we are in close touch with the government of algeria. we stand ready to provide assistance. we are seeking to gain a fuller understanding of what took place, so we can work together with algerians and others to prevent such terrorist attacks in the future. concerns about terrorism and instability in north africa are, of course, not new. they have been a top priority for the entire administration's national security team. but we have been facing a rapidly changing threat environment, and we have had to keep working at ways to increase pressure on al qaeda and the islamic maghreb and the other terrorist groups in the region. in the first hours and days, i conferred with leaders, the president of libya, foreign ministers of tunisia and morocco, and then i had a series of meetings at the united nations' general assembly, where there was a special meeting focused on mali and the sahel. in october, i flew to algeria to discuss the fight against aqim. in november, i spent deputy secretary bill burns to follow up in algiers, and then in december, in my instestead, he co-chaired an o